Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum warned on Tuesday that equal rights for LGBT Americans would destroy the church and the family and eventually “disintegrate” the institution of marriage itself.

Throughout his speech in Spokane on behalf of the the Family Policy Institute of Washington, the former candidate talked about the importance of “equal rights” and the “freedom to pursue happiness,” but said those concepts should not extend to the gay and lesbian Americans who wanted to get married.

Santorum recalled that he recently gave a controversial speech at Yale University about how the government “destroying the American family” and recalled that he had argued that an excess of equality undermined freedom.

“The greatest threat to equality is equality that shows no discernment, has no basis for value,” Santorum explained. “If we do not win this issue of marriage, not only will the family disintegrate — it is is disintegrating.”

“This issue will destroy and undermine the church in America, more than any other issue,” he continued. “You will see it even more demonstrably when it comes to the issue of same sex marriage and what churches will be able to say and not say and do and not do. You will see it taught in your schools. You will see society fundamentally change. And anyone who doesn’t agree with it will be cast — as you know, I hear it, I’m sure you do — as bigots, people who you just don’t invite into polite conversation.”

Santorum urged the attendees to actively work to prevent same sex marriage from being legalized in Washington state in November because the “bullets are flying and you’re in the foxhole, you’re fighting for the guy next to you, you’re fighting to survive.”

With polls showing that Referendum 74 is favored by a 55-40 percent margin, Washington state is expected in November to become the sixth state where same sex marriage is legal. If passed, Washington and Maryland would be the first states ever to legalize marriage equality through ballot measures.

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David Edwards has served as an editor at Raw Story since 2006. His work can also be found at Crooks & Liars, and he's also been published at The BRAD BLOG. He came to Raw Story after working as a network manager for the state of North Carolina and as as engineer developing enterprise resource planning software. Follow him on Twitter at @DavidEdwards.